


River sleeps...

by Katherine



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Post-Serenity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-11-08
Updated: 2005-11-08
Packaged: 2017-10-08 09:51:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine/pseuds/Katherine





	River sleeps...

River sleeps curled tightly around herself. She might not still be doing so, had her time at the Institute never happened, had Simon been able to do other than freeze her in a box to get her safely on to _Serenity_. Or she might, even without the trauma and the dreams.

"There are monsters outside," she had told him in their childhood, not scared-sounding but merely matter of fact, and curled herself into his bed. The top right corner, of course, taking most of the pillow, leaving Simon to lie awake and watch her, uncomfortable, until he managed to return to sleep. That hadn't helped his alertness in school, for some extended days, but he got used to her presence, the sound of her sleep-slowed breathing.

River was usually gone before he woke; she was always gone before morning. No need to leave anyone else in the household wondering.

Kaylee is often gone when Simon wakes up, but she comes back, settling beside him with feet chilled. So River isn't the only one who wanders around the ship without shoes, these days. "Still flying," Kaylee usually says, somewhere between cheerful and grim, depending--on how easy the throb of the engine is, Simon assumes. Or, "Nothing more fallen off," with the merest edge of sharp; Kaylee likes River, most ways, but not her scattered way of flying.

Simon's never sure how to respond, but thankfully rarely has to. Kaylee wakes easily, but she falls back to sleep as fast, even after rousing Simon to staying awake with her for a time.

Kaylee sleeps sprawled out and smiling, all the more brightly with her muscles loosened and skin sheened from whole-hearted effort. She leaves Simon all but a corner of the pillow.


End file.
